ROOSEVELT Theodore
Message of the President of the United States 1908 - ROOSEVELT Theodore - 1908. [1274402]1908 - ROOSEVELT, Theodore. Message of the President of the United States 1908. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1908. Thin octavo, original printed paper wrappers, staple-bound as issued; pp. [68]. Housed in a custom chemise and clamshell box, $6500.First edition of Roosevelt's 1908 Annual Message to Congress, emphasizing his environmental concerns and illustrated with ten photographic plates, presentation copy boldly inscribed by the President to his military attaché and informal sparring partner, "To Captain Dan. T. Moore, with all good wishes from Theodore Roosevelt, Jan. 9th 1909."Because he did not seek a third consecutive term in office, Theodore Roosevelt's 1908 annual message to Congress, delivered in published form, was his eighth and last. It reflects his conflicted relationship with the legislative branch, containing "so imperious a call for enhanced executive authority that it amounted to a condemnation of the doctrine of checks and balances" (Morris, Theodore Rex, 541). It also, however, captures "TR"'s forward-looking perspective, especially regarding environmental issues. Roosevelt sounds the alarm about deforestation in America: "If there is any one duty which more than another we owe it to our children and our children's children to perform at once," he insists, "it is to save the forests of this country. There are of course two kinds of natural resources, One is the kind which can only be used as part of a process of exhaustion; this is true of mines, natural oil and gas wells, and the like. The other, and of course ultimately by far the most important, includes the resources which can be improved in the process of wise use; the soil, the rivers, and the forests come under this head. Any really civilized nation will so use all of these three great national assets that the nation will have their benefit in the future". Shortsighted persons, or persons blinded to the future by desire to make money in every way out of the present, sometimes speak as if no great damage would be done by the reckless destruction of our forests. It is difficult to have patience with the arguments of these persons. Thanks to our own recklessness in the use of our splendid forests, we have already crossed the verge of a timber famine in this country, and no measures that we now take can, at least for many years, undo the mischief that has already been done. But we can prevent further mischief being done; and it would be in the highest degree reprehensible to let any consideration of temporary convenience or temporary cost interfere with such action"." Roosevelt's address is illustrated with ten photographic plates depicting deforestation's consequences in China. Roosevelt calls China's case "a lesson which mankind should have learned many times already". When the soil is gone, men must go; and the process does not take long." Inscribed to Captain Daniel Tyler Moore, Sr., military attaché to Roosevelt. A career Army officer, Moore, a cousin to Edith Roosevelt, served in Cuba from 1899-1901 and in the Philippines, 1902-04. He was, on Roosevelt's recommendation, the first foreigner admitted to the German artillery school and, in 1911, he founded the U.S. Army School of Fire at Fort Sill, Oklahoma (known today as the Field Artillery School). Moore was also Roosevelt's frequent, informal sparring partner. During one boxing match, Moore struck Roosevelt so forcefully that TR lost sight in one eye. He never told Moore his blow rendered him partly blind; Moore only learned the truth in 1917. "Could you ask for any better proof of the man's sportsmanship," Moore asked, "than the fact that he never told me what I had done to him?"Wrappers partly detached and lightly soiled, modest loss to spine ends. A wonderful and desirable presentation copy in near-fine condition. [Attributes: First Edition; Signed Copy; Soft Cover]
[Bookseller: Bauman Rare Books]